Butter cutter



Feb. 26, 1929.

Asl-.IATEN BUTTER CUTTER Filed 001;. l0, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet INVENTQR ALBE ATTORNEY Feb. 26, 1929.

A. `slfATEN y BUTTER CUTTER Filed Oct. l0, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet r INVENTOR Q I kul .l L9 ""T) 4 BY ALBERT LATEN ATTORNEY A. sLATEN BUTTER CUTTER Feb; 26, 1929.

Filed ot. 1o. 1927 5 sheets-sheet bava, m5 Nu www Oh.

Feb, 26, 1929.

- A. SLATEN BUTTER GUTTER 5 sheds-sheet -4 Fi'ld Oct. 10, 1927 INVENTOR 5 Sheets-Sheet A. sLAfrEN BUTTER GTTER Filed 001,. 10. 1927 Feb. 26, 1929.

lPatented Feb. 26, 1929.`

UNITE-D STAT I ALBERT sLATENyOI' MINNEAoLIs; NINNEsoTA..

Burana Cfr'rnn.

ninemsn ined october 10,A 1.921.- srml No. 225,304.`

'I his invention yrelates .to butter cuttingr equipment for hotels, restaurants, kand simi-A lar places where large quantitiesfof/indi-v vidual butter pats or chips are used, and the primary object is to provide means of a novel, practical, andfeicient nature for cuttinof blocks of butter 1 up. into 'such pats and elivering them to small plates, in

which they are distributed to thel guests and patrons A further object is to vprovidea butter cutter which` is. extremely. simple in construction, and in' which the butter holder jand related parts may hey quickl, lremoved and replaced, for thepurpose o` cleaning, refilling, etc.' Still further and' more specific vobje'ctswill be disclosed'in the'course of the following specification, reference being had to they accompanying drawings,

wherein z.

Fig. 1 isv a right sideelevation of the ma'- chine, with fractional ortions broken away and with the'surrounging -housing and ice container removed. e

Fig.' 2 is a 'plan' view of the 4machine as shown in Fig.- 1,7and as slightlyfmodi'ed therefrom.`

Fig. 3 is a'sectional elevation on the line.

3 3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a frontelevation as shown in Fig. 2.'

Fig. v5 is a detailed sectionalviewlkonlthe line 5-5 in Fig. 1. y.

Fig. 6 isa detailview, mostly in section, of' the butter kcarrying drum. 1 r

Fig. 7 is a rear endview yof the butter drum.. f

Fig. 8isia detail view ofthe feedI screw,

and showing fthe feed spider 'invertical section. y

Fig. 9 is a rear elevation of; the",l feed spider `and screw, as .-seenffrom the right in Fig.' 8. f i

Fig. 10 yisa detail section,l similar Vtothe left end of Fig.. 3, but showing vsome ylifaits in other positions, and yoniittingother parts. Fig. 11 is' affront elevation of the-machine on a reducedscalmand showing a port-ion? of the housingyand kice .compartmentns broken away.V A to the Vdrawings more Y particu-VV Referrin l larlyand; y reference' characters designatesa base' having legsl2, and abuse plate '13* which .is off-set downwardly, asiat-14, v

in aV pocketJor plate sectionfnat ,thefront part of thebase. "At its frontend yrear ends the base is provided withgafpar of `of the machine,

arched standards B and C` whichvsupport:

`substantially the entire butter cutting mechanism. Q

The Abutter carrier proper is designated by the letter D, and consists of a c lindrical *drum 15 havingan end wall 16 with which is integrally formed 'a spindle member 17-.- i

18.y lThe'spindle section 17 is removably secured ina bearing socket, of the standard B,

by a latch19. The drum 15 is provided withv anv annular. seriesof spaced chambers 20,

`which'extend from the wall v16, and are.

openV atboth ends. These chambers are :of a vsize to conveniently receive quarter" pound strips lor blocksv` of butter. A worm screw 21 extends axially intothe drum and,

atfits inner end, has a. S0cket`22for rotatablyi'eceiving-the spindle section 18, while its outerl or' rear end has a .flattened facefV 23 whereby itfmay'be nonfrotatablyyet-detachablyfsecured inthe Yst anda-rdi-C, as by a. latch2f1, which is .similar'tog19- QThus,

p the drum and .worm are releasably secured in axialV alignment, but only thev formerl is free to rotate'.

Theworin21 carriesa spider'like butter .Y

actuator 25, the'samehaving alstud screw 26,

which engages-thelwormfQl, so as to ad-l Vance .the spider lwhen thesameis rotated.`

lt;may here be noted. (see Fig. 8) 'that the screw 21 Ais provided, atV its forward end, l1

with an Aannular slot 2,1, sot-hat when the screw `stud 26k has travelled its yforward course the-spider 25.*mayk rotate` idly and not.; bind orstop. on the worm.

The spider arms are provided attheir youterends .with push blocks l27 which are soI spacedthateach slidably fit in one ofthe chambers 2(7), and-thel inner Walls of these chambers'l lare ,engaging faces offset withrespectnto yeach other, ^i, e., the blocksl are of successively varyingjglengths,'whereby the butter blocks will successively' projected from the drum, and, as one butter pat is cut from 1 each,v butter block for each rotation ofy Vthe drum, it will -be seen Kthatthe, pitch yof' the screw 21 will determinerthe size 01 thickness ofbutter patto befcu't, and that the gradual offsetting ofy the blocks` 27.V will permitthe first and `last pats Afrom each b utter blockV to .benut .with unfjrmf-thkness.,

The butteris cutby aw1r,e -29 carried -avjcutter lforklever l30, secured von a barf`31, f

95. i rovided with slots ,28T` .tonslidably receive t e arms ofthe spider.` vThe.blocks.27 have rtheir front or butter so that the wire can travel up and down .1n front of the lowerniost chamber' 20. The

shaft 31 is rotatably and slidably mounted in bearings 32 of the 4standards B and C. The shaft 31 is yieldingly held rearwardly by a spring 33, so that the wire 29 will be closed against the drum face 16, and a spring 34 serves to keep the cutter fork 30 in a yieldingly upward position.

The cutter forli may be actuated Aby a handle extension 35, as shown in Fig. 1, in which event the handle would project through a suitable slot in the outer housing, but I prefer to oscillatev the shaft 3l, by a separate hand lever 36, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 11, which is attached to the front projecting end of the shaft. t'its rear end l provide the shaft 31 with a rigid arm 37, adapted to engage a curved spring tongue 38. This tongue is secured, as at 39, to the standard C, and ata lower peintV abuts against a stationary pin 40. llVhen 'theop- 'erating leveris nov-J pressed down to cutoff Va butter pat, it will be seen that-the cutting wire will travel vertically downward and the, arm 37 will merely spring the tongue 38 forward as' .it travelsA down. When the handle is released the springv 34frestores the parts to their initial positions, but in order to prevent injury to the next advancing butter block it is' necessaryto space the cutting forli from the drum as the wire moves upwardly. This is done bythe arm'37 which as it engages the curved forward face of the spring 38 moves the rod 31 (and-the fork 30) forward against the spring 33. The pin 40 holds the tongue 38 suliiciently rigid during this actioinand as soon as the arm 37 can escape from the spring it permits' the parts29--31 to return to their initial positions. The action of the fork 30, as iniiueiiced bythe tongue 33, is illustrated'in Fig. 10.

The drum D is intermittently rotated, so

i as to successively bring the butter cakes into cutting positions, by a toothed wheel 41 carried on-the spindle section 17, and having one tooth for each chamber20. This wheel is intermittently actuated by a pawl'lever 42, which fulcrums as at 43, on an arm 44, carried bythe shaft 31. A spring 45 tends to hold the pawl up in engagement with'the wheel 41, and an' extension finger 46, vof the lever 42 acts as a--stop against the wheel 41 to'limit the drum turning action ofthe pawl,

y .forward movement With. the pin 43.

andstop the drlixm at the desired positions. An'l..shaped pin or hook 47 also acts as a sliding rest for themember'42 and limits its downward movement.` The pawl lever v42 has a sliding engagement with the fulcrum pin 43, so that it need not move back and forth with the shaft 31, and thus be disengaged from the wheel A41, andthe hook 47 also serves to thus hold it against back and As the butter pats are successively ycut trom the blocks of butter, they drop upon small plates 48 which are placed upon and carried by a table 49. This table is provided may be inserted under each plate to remove KJthe same. The table-49 is'rotatably carried upon the shelf 14 and has a shaft 51 to the lower end of which is a ratchet wheel 52, having one tooth for each plate pocket. A spring pand-53- operates the ratchet and is carried on a level' 54 which is pivoted, as'v at 55, under the base. The left end of the lever 54 (as seen in Fig. 4) is operated by an armY 56 that drops down from and reciprocates back and forth with the shaft 31, to which it is held by a collar 57. Thus, for each'pat of butter delivered 'the turntable 49 will be rotated until the next empty plate 48 is in a butter receiving` position. Y

As shown in Fig. 11, substantially all of the operating mechanism of the machinel is inclosed in a housing 53, which is easily removable to give access to the interior of the machine. In the upper Vpart 'of this housing,

l arrange an ice chest 59, the same extendingV closely over thebutter drum Diso as to keep the butter cold. This container is provided with a suitable coverGO.' f Y f l/Vhen the butter drum becomes exhausted, it is a simple matter to first 4remove the ice chest or the housing 58, after which the clips 19 and 24 are turned, and the Idrum D, the spider 25 and the worm 2l are 'then removed, plunged into scalding water if desired, refilledwith butter cakes, and replacedin the machine, after Which-the machine is again lin readiness to be further operated..

- It is understood 'that suitablemodications may be made in thc general design and structural details ofthe invention as herein shown, provided, however, that said. inodilicatins come within the spirit and lscope of r of butter, one from each. block of butter l carried r by said chambers. f

v2. In a butter cutting machine, a seriesl vof spaced 'butter chambers' rotatable about a` common axis, a vworm arrangedl centrally within lthe series, a feeding device mounted on the worm and having heads for respective engagement in the-chambers whereby rio ini

. chambers, for feeding the butter toward thelar series of longitudinally disposed' butterchambers, means for rotating the" drum, means operative upon. rotation of the drum for simultaneously and gradually expelling the butter from the chambers, and a cutting device for successively cutting butter pats from the butter as it is expelled fromV said chambers, said expelling means comprising a spider havingr a plurality of heads slidably engaging the butter chambers.

4. In a butter cutting machine, the combination including a drum having an annuv lar series of butter chambers, means forrotating the drum, means Operative upon iotation of the drumfor simultaneously and gradually expelling the butter from the chambers, and a cutting device for succes-A sively cutting butter pats from the butter as it is expelled from said chambers, said expelling means comprising a spider having a plurality of heads slidablyA engagingnthe butter chambers, and lsaid chambers all being provided with longitudinal slots for re'- ceiving the spider arms. Y

5. In a butter cutting machine, a carrier having an annular series of chambers ex.- tending longitudinally thereof and adapted to contain blocks'of-'butter, means .for'intermittentlyl rotating the carrier, a cutter atv one end of the carrier, means, havin-ga plurality of feed heads 'engageablein thel cutter, and screw means engage-able with the feeding `means and yoperative upon rotation of the cariier to move/said feed heads longitudinally of the chambers.

G. In a butter cutting machine, a carrier having an annular series of chambers extending longitudinally thereof'and adapted to contain blocks o f butter, means for intermittently rotating the carrier, a cutter'at one end of the carrier, means, having a plurality" of feed'heads engageable in the chambers, for feeding the Abutter toward the cutter,

and a lnon-rotatable worm extending axiallyk into the carrier for engagement with the feeding means.

7. In a butter cutter having a cutting de-y vice for cutting the butter into pats, a carrier having an annular series of chambers for containing the uncut butter, a butter feeding device consisting of ascrew extending axiallyl of the carrier and having a traveller provided with a series of heads 'for respec- `tive engagement in said chambers, said traveler being rotatable -With the drum whereby 'it will advance on the screw, and means for rotatingthe carrier.

8. In a butter cutter having a cutting ydevice for cutting the butter into pats, a carrierhaving an annular .series of chambers yfor` containing the uncut butter, a butter feeding device consisting of a screw extending axially of the carrier 'and having a traveler provided with a series of heads for respective engagement in `said chambers, said traveler` bein@ lrotatable with the carrier whereby itwillvadvance on the'screw,l

and means for rotating the carrier, said feeding device and carrier being detachably secured in the machine whereby. they may be quickly removed for purpose of cleaning; .9. -In a butter cutting machine'y having a cutting device, a rotatable carrier having a Vseries of chambers for containing theuncut butter, anon-rotatable feed screw extending' with one end into the carrier and having its other end secured toA a suitable support, said carrier having a spindle one endof which-.journals in the feed screw and the other end mounted in a second support, and

a feeding device mounted to travelk on the feed screw and lhaving heads for sliding engagement in lthe chambers to press the .butiter therein towaidthe cutting device.

10.In a butter cutting machine having a cutting device, a rotatable carrier having a series of chambers for containing thev uncut butter, a non-rotatable feed screw extending with one end into the carrier. and having` its other end secured to a "suitable support,

said carrier having a spindle `one end of'v which journalsiny the feed screwk Iand the other'end mounted in a second support, land afeeding device mounted to travel on the feed screw and having heads for sliding engagement in the chambers to press :the butter therein towardthe cutting device, latch( devices' for securing said .feed screw and spindle to said supports whereby the carrier yand feed devicesmay be removed without yworking partsv of the? disturbing other machine.

y' In testimony whereof I affix my signature. I

ALBERT. SLATEN.

los 

